Mechanical Harvesting Declines by 74 Percent

Published: Sunday, November 25, 2012 at 11:24 p.m.

Last Modified: Sunday, November 25, 2012 at 11:24 p.m.

LAKELAND | Once touted as the ultimate solution to frequent labor shortages during the citrus harvesting season, mechanical harvesting has declined by 74 percent during the past two seasons, yet another victim in the Florida citrus industry's war against the bacterial disease citrus greening.

"The main reason (for the decline) is greening," said Dave Crumbly, vice president of agricultural services at Florida's Natural Growers, the Lake Wales cooperative juice processor. "The energy it (a harvesting machine) takes to remove the fruit is causing a stress on the tree. Greening magnifies the problem."

Greening, a fatal bacterial disease, first surfaced in Florida in 2005 and quickly spread to all the state's commercial citrus-producing counties. The disease causes trees to produce bitter, inedible oranges, grapefruit and tangerines.

Industry officials estimate more than 70 percent of Florida's nearly 70 million citrus trees are infected.

Research has found a program of fertilizer supplements, called "enhanced nutrition," can counteract greening's effects and keep infected trees producing healthy fruit. But research also shows that, even with enhanced nutrition, greening-infected trees are far more vulnerable to other common hazards, such as pests, other diseases, drought and freezes.

The Florida citrus industry has been working on developing mechanical harvesters since the 1980s, and some machines began to be widely used by the 1998-99 season, when machines harvested 5,500 orange acres, or 1 percent of the total orange acreage, according to the Florida Department of Citrus.

Orange groves use the harvesting machines exclusively because juice processors purchase 95 percent of Florida oranges, which accounts for about 85 percent of the state's annual commercial citrus harvest. Grapefruit and tangerine growers don't use the machines because they sell a significant portion of those crops on the fresh market, where bruising and other minor damages from machines would make the fruit unmarketable.

Mechanical harvesting peaked at 35,600 acres, almost 8 percent of total orange acreage, in the 2008-09 season, Citrus Department figures show. It fell to 11,347 acres, just 2.6 percent of total orange acreage, in the 2010-11 season and to 9,372 acres, or 2 percent, last season.

Paul Meador, a LaBelle grower who also runs a harvesting company, Everglades Harvesting and Hauling Inc., agreed greening was a major factor in the decline of mechanical harvesting.

His company, which owns three machines, employed them on a limited basis last year and only in groves where greening infection rates were minimal, he said. Everglades expects to do the same during the 2012-13 season.

Last season's near record farm prices for Florida oranges and an adequate supply of harvesting labor made traditional hand picking more attractive, he said.

"A grower wants to make money, but if he can pick a tree by hand and have a gentle, loving harvest, most growers would go with gentle, loving harvesting," Meador said. "When fruit prices are high, a grower is able to make a fair amount of money with hand harvesting. When fruit prices are low, he can't make as much money with hand harvesting."

Crumbly, who manages harvesting on more than 60,000 member acres in the Florida's Natural cooperative, agreed the company's use of mechanical harvesting fell off in the past two seasons at a rate equivalent to the state figures.

Crumbly and Meador are members of the Citrus Department's Citrus Harvesting Research Advisory Council, which oversees department-funded scientific research on cheaper, more efficient harvesting systems.

Interest in mechanical harvesting of citrus began in the 1980s, a decade that began with 845,283 commercial citrus acres, including 627,174 orange acres, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture records. At the time, reaching 1 million acres seemed possible, but growers feared they could not find enough migrant labor to harvest all that fruit.

The push for mechanical harvesting declined after several freezes during the decade reduced total citrus land as low as 624,492 acres, including 466,252 orange acres, in 1986, USDA figures show. By the time total commercial acreage returned to 857,687 total acres and 656,598 orange acres in 1996, the push for mechanical harvesting had resumed.

Total citrus acreage currently has fallen to 531,493 acres, including 464,918 orange acres.

Yet even before the first case of greening was discovered in Homeland in 2005, mechanical harvesting struggled to gain a foothold among Florida's conservative grove owners.

Long-term tree damage was a major worry because the machines not only removed fruit but more twigs, branches and leaves than hand harvesting. Growers worried the limb loss would eventually result in lower fruit production, thus money, in their groves.

Although research showed no long-term tree damage from mechanical harvesting, many growers remained skeptical. Their skepticism grew once greening arrived, which led to commercial acreage declines but also fewer workers needed to pick the remaining fruit and higher farm prices.

While greening may have lowered the desire for mechanical harvesting in the short-run, it may increase demand in the long-term.

Fritz Roka, an economist at the Southwest Florida Research and Education Center who has studied mechanical harvesting for more than a decade, said enhanced nutrition and other additional grove caretaking measures necessary to control the disease's spread has more than doubled those costs from an average $800 per acre in 2004 to $1,700 today.

The history of mechanical harvesting in the 1980s will not repeat itself, Roka said in an email to The Ledger.

"Interest among growers about mechanical harvesting is still pretty high because of its potential to dramatically reduce harvest costs," he said. "If growers had a cheaper way to harvest, they would jump at the chance. The problem with current state of mechanical harvesting affairs is that growers are not convinced that it delivers enough ‘value' given their perceived level of risk. Again, we are back to the concern over mechanical harvesting stress while dealing with (greening)."

Roka acknowledged many growers worry about stress on infected trees, but he added there's been no research documenting such effects and some studies suggest infected trees can handle additional stress.

"Our response has been: ‘No, well-nourished trees are not adversely affected by mechanical harvesting, either through lower yields or higher tree mortality.' The rub is that with (greening), ‘well-nourished' trees are scarce."

Another factor that will increase the demand for mechanical harvesting is the availability of an abscission chemical, Crumbly, Meador and Roka agreed. Abscission is a botanical term referring to releasing fruit from its stem.

The Citrus Department has spent more than $14 million over more than a decade developing an abscission chemical known as "CMNP" for its chemical name. The U.S. Department of Environmental Protection is reviewing CMNP and is expected to decide on a permit for its use by February.

Florida citrus officials widely expect EPA approval based on environmental studies it submitted to the agency and because CMNP is derived from natural chemicals. If so, CMNP significantly reduces the bond between oranges and their stems. That decreases the force machines need to apply on a citrus tree, thus greatly reducing damage.

"It (CMNP) will also open the door for smaller mechanical harvesters that use very little force," Crumbly said.

Meador agreed, adding the current favorable pool of migrant labor to pick the oranges will not likely endure long term because of the continuing political fight over immigration and rising living standards in Mexico and other Latin American countries that provide most of the current migrant pickers.

"That's not going to go on forever; we all know that," Meador said. "Once that takes place, we're going to see a lot more interest in mechanical harvesting."

<p>LAKELAND | Once touted as the ultimate solution to frequent labor shortages during the citrus harvesting season, mechanical harvesting has declined by 74 percent during the past two seasons, yet another victim in the Florida citrus industry's war against the bacterial disease citrus greening.</p><p>"The main reason (for the decline) is greening," said Dave Crumbly, vice president of agricultural services at Florida's Natural Growers, the Lake Wales cooperative juice processor. "The energy it (a harvesting machine) takes to remove the fruit is causing a stress on the tree. Greening magnifies the problem."</p><p>Greening, a fatal bacterial disease, first surfaced in Florida in 2005 and quickly spread to all the state's commercial citrus-producing counties. The disease causes trees to produce bitter, inedible oranges, grapefruit and tangerines.</p><p>Industry officials estimate more than 70 percent of Florida's nearly 70 million citrus trees are infected.</p><p>Research has found a program of fertilizer supplements, called "enhanced nutrition," can counteract greening's effects and keep infected trees producing healthy fruit. But research also shows that, even with enhanced nutrition, greening-infected trees are far more vulnerable to other common hazards, such as pests, other diseases, drought and freezes.</p><p>The Florida citrus industry has been working on developing mechanical harvesters since the 1980s, and some machines began to be widely used by the 1998-99 season, when machines harvested 5,500 orange acres, or 1 percent of the total orange acreage, according to the Florida Department of Citrus.</p><p>Orange groves use the harvesting machines exclusively because juice processors purchase 95 percent of Florida oranges, which accounts for about 85 percent of the state's annual commercial citrus harvest. Grapefruit and tangerine growers don't use the machines because they sell a significant portion of those crops on the fresh market, where bruising and other minor damages from machines would make the fruit unmarketable.</p><p>Mechanical harvesting peaked at 35,600 acres, almost 8 percent of total orange acreage, in the 2008-09 season, Citrus Department figures show. It fell to 11,347 acres, just 2.6 percent of total orange acreage, in the 2010-11 season and to 9,372 acres, or 2 percent, last season.</p><p>Paul Meador, a LaBelle grower who also runs a harvesting company, Everglades Harvesting and Hauling Inc., agreed greening was a major factor in the decline of mechanical harvesting.</p><p>His company, which owns three machines, employed them on a limited basis last year and only in groves where greening infection rates were minimal, he said. Everglades expects to do the same during the 2012-13 season.</p><p>Last season's near record farm prices for Florida oranges and an adequate supply of harvesting labor made traditional hand picking more attractive, he said.</p><p>"A grower wants to make money, but if he can pick a tree by hand and have a gentle, loving harvest, most growers would go with gentle, loving harvesting," Meador said. "When fruit prices are high, a grower is able to make a fair amount of money with hand harvesting. When fruit prices are low, he can't make as much money with hand harvesting."</p><p>Crumbly, who manages harvesting on more than 60,000 member acres in the Florida's Natural cooperative, agreed the company's use of mechanical harvesting fell off in the past two seasons at a rate equivalent to the state figures.</p><p>Crumbly and Meador are members of the Citrus Department's Citrus Harvesting Research Advisory Council, which oversees department-funded scientific research on cheaper, more efficient harvesting systems.</p><p>Interest in mechanical harvesting of citrus began in the 1980s, a decade that began with 845,283 commercial citrus acres, including 627,174 orange acres, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture records. At the time, reaching 1 million acres seemed possible, but growers feared they could not find enough migrant labor to harvest all that fruit.</p><p>The push for mechanical harvesting declined after several freezes during the decade reduced total citrus land as low as 624,492 acres, including 466,252 orange acres, in 1986, USDA figures show. By the time total commercial acreage returned to 857,687 total acres and 656,598 orange acres in 1996, the push for mechanical harvesting had resumed.</p><p>Total citrus acreage currently has fallen to 531,493 acres, including 464,918 orange acres.</p><p>Yet even before the first case of greening was discovered in Homeland in 2005, mechanical harvesting struggled to gain a foothold among Florida's conservative grove owners.</p><p>Long-term tree damage was a major worry because the machines not only removed fruit but more twigs, branches and leaves than hand harvesting. Growers worried the limb loss would eventually result in lower fruit production, thus money, in their groves.</p><p>Although research showed no long-term tree damage from mechanical harvesting, many growers remained skeptical. Their skepticism grew once greening arrived, which led to commercial acreage declines but also fewer workers needed to pick the remaining fruit and higher farm prices.</p><p>While greening may have lowered the desire for mechanical harvesting in the short-run, it may increase demand in the long-term.</p><p>Fritz Roka, an economist at the Southwest Florida Research and Education Center who has studied mechanical harvesting for more than a decade, said enhanced nutrition and other additional grove caretaking measures necessary to control the disease's spread has more than doubled those costs from an average $800 per acre in 2004 to $1,700 today.</p><p>The history of mechanical harvesting in the 1980s will not repeat itself, Roka said in an email to The Ledger.</p><p>"Interest among growers about mechanical harvesting is still pretty high because of its potential to dramatically reduce harvest costs," he said. "If growers had a cheaper way to harvest, they would jump at the chance. The problem with current state of mechanical harvesting affairs is that growers are not convinced that it delivers enough 'value' given their perceived level of risk. Again, we are back to the concern over mechanical harvesting stress while dealing with (greening)."</p><p>Roka acknowledged many growers worry about stress on infected trees, but he added there's been no research documenting such effects and some studies suggest infected trees can handle additional stress.</p><p>"Our response has been: 'No, well-nourished trees are not adversely affected by mechanical harvesting, either through lower yields or higher tree mortality.' The rub is that with (greening), 'well-nourished' trees are scarce."</p><p>Another factor that will increase the demand for mechanical harvesting is the availability of an abscission chemical, Crumbly, Meador and Roka agreed. Abscission is a botanical term referring to releasing fruit from its stem.</p><p>The Citrus Department has spent more than $14 million over more than a decade developing an abscission chemical known as "CMNP" for its chemical name. The U.S. Department of Environmental Protection is reviewing CMNP and is expected to decide on a permit for its use by February.</p><p>Florida citrus officials widely expect EPA approval based on environmental studies it submitted to the agency and because CMNP is derived from natural chemicals. If so, CMNP significantly reduces the bond between oranges and their stems. That decreases the force machines need to apply on a citrus tree, thus greatly reducing damage.</p><p>"It (CMNP) will also open the door for smaller mechanical harvesters that use very little force," Crumbly said.</p><p>Meador agreed, adding the current favorable pool of migrant labor to pick the oranges will not likely endure long term because of the continuing political fight over immigration and rising living standards in Mexico and other Latin American countries that provide most of the current migrant pickers.</p><p>"That's not going to go on forever; we all know that," Meador said. "Once that takes place, we're going to see a lot more interest in mechanical harvesting."</p>